Four Painful Years

>Play it cool, don't make a fool of yourself in front of the Horrendously cute boi.

>Take off mood ring. You can't get distracted by it while you're talking to Max about the check!

Dann, you're trapped. Only way out is to make pleasent small talk. You got this, probably.
Just avoid panicking and the check is as good as yours.

You slip the mood ring off of your finger into your pocket. You don't need to look any frumpier than you think you do currently.

JULIE: "Hey, Max!"

MAXWELL: "Hey! You had me thinking you weren't gonna show up."

JULIE: "Pff, and what, miss out on all mah fat loots? Think again, boyo."
JULIE: "Okay day?"

MAXWELL: "Oh y'know, same ol' same ol'."

Oh, Maxwell. If only. The way he paces around the room and fixes his little glasses is so cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuunnnnnnnnnnnning. Cunning. You know, like a ninja or something. He's got light steps. Probably a good dancer. You should ask him if he's good at dancing no you shouldn't that would be ridiculous WHAT WERE YOU THINKING.

MAXWELL: "Trent's crashing into product, Luca's crashing into people and Mustafa's yelling about how everyone's crashing into things."
MAXWELL: "So all in all, a good day, actually."
MAXWELL: "Though, it'd be better with you around..."

JULIE: "[unintelligible] youuuu [incoherent] would even SAY something [additional gibberish] pffffhahahaha, snort."
JULIE: "Flattery'll getcha nowhere, friend-o. Besides, I've seen your method. You've got everything under control, Mister Almost-Manager."

MAXWELL: "Haha, yeah..."
MAXWELL: "Uh, about that..."

JULIE: "Huh?"

MAXWELL: "You, uh... So you know that school I've been trying to get into for a while?"

JULIE: "... OH... MY... GUNDANIUM."
JULIE: "You got the interview!"

MAXWELL: "I got the interview!"

JULIE: "... Shit!"

MAXWELL: "?"

JULIE: "Who's going to be running the place if you get accepted?"

With a wry smile Maxwell clears some stuff off of his desk and sits on top of it. What is going on???

MAXWELL: "Tell me, Jules... Who do you think, out of all the people that work here, is most qualified to take up my mantle as soon-to-be-prime-arbitrator of Grosvenor Storage & Warehouse care of 7431 Bridgeview and Caldew?"

JULIE: "..."
JULIE: "Moose?"

MAXWELL: "Haha, no, not Moose..."

JULIE: "Luca?"

MAXWELL: "No... No, definitely not Luca."

JULIE: "Trent?"

MAXWELL: "He... Julie, he's only been here three weeks. I'm gonna humor you one more time, it's the one person that works here you haven't mentioned yet."

JULIE: "..."
JULIE: "Phillipé."

MAXWELL: "Dammit, Julie, not the janitor, it's YOU!"

JULIE: "But whyyyyyyyyyy!?"
JULIE: "I didn't sign up for a permanent gig here, Max. I only wanted to work long enough to afford some last minute junk before I go on disability and never have to waste my time working ever again..."
JULIE: "You've gotta find someone else."

MAXWELL: "There is no one else!"
MAXWELL: "The man upstairs wants me to find someone 'appropriate' to fill my position before I take off. He's threatening to withhold the character reference I asked him for otherwise..."

JULIE: "Uhhhh, WHAT?"
JULIE: "He can't do that, that's a total dick move! You need as many of those as you can get!"

MAXWELL: "Technically there's nothing stopping him."
MAXWELL: "I know you're... Gosh, this is always hard to talk about."
MAXWELL: "I know you're short on time and everything o-on account of, uh..."

JULIE: "Because I'm dying."
JULIE: "I've kinda had a while to come to grips with it, Max. It's cool."

But if that's true, why do you feel so choked up every time you mention it?

MAXWELL: "... Yeah."
MAXWELL: "Just... Hear me out."
MAXWELL: "If you can play along for just a little, maybe like... a couple months after I leave, maybe less, a friend of mine is moving back into the neighborhood. She's got the kind of experience the boss is looking for, and she's gonna need work when she gets here. When she does, I'll recommend her and you can scram on out of here, how does that sound?"

JULIE: "... A couple months is a long time, Max. I don't know..."
JULIE: "Though I guess I could just pack up and leave after you get accepted?"

MAXWELL: "Normally I'd agree. But the school I'm going to is pretty hoity-toity... Grosvenor could have my enrollment revoked with even so much as a mention of me being unreliable or, Christ, dishonest."
MAXWELL: "I'm honestly at your mercy, Jules. You can say no, I'm sure I'll find a way anyhow, but, like... Help me out here, and I'll never ask you for anything ever again, scout's honor. And I'll pay it back tenfold once I'm out, you can bet on that, I'll make up for those two months so good you won't even miss them."
MAXWELL: "What do you say, huh? Do I have to get on my knees? Like, I will."

JULIE: "No, no, don't do that... No, haha... No, seriously, Max, it's pathetic, get up."
JULIE: "Just... Ugh, ummm..."
JULIE: "Uhhh..."

Maxwell is a close friend, arguably your closest. He's helped you through a lot since you moved in two years ago, nicest guy you've ever met, a real shoulder to cry on. Hell, had you not been dying, you may have even staved off your anxiety long enough to ask him out by now. But, like you said... a couple months is 4% of your remaining time on Earth. You can't really afford to wait around for something that might not even happen. On the other hand, you don't really want to be the kind of person who wouldn't give up 4% of their life if it would benefit a friend in need. You feel a headache coming on.

What do you do?